The Engagement Ring
by CrazyJMB
Summary: The McDonald-Venturi family came together all starting with a engagement ring that George bought for Nora. However, as the years go on, this special ring goes on to serve several unforeseen purposes, particularly for one member of the family. On Hiatus
1. Prologue

Hey everyone, I know I should probably finish my other LWD story before starting this one, but I'm having major writing block with it. This story is a bit different from my others. Of course it'll have some fluff, but it won't be exclusively fluff like a lot of my other stories. It will have a good amount of drama, with potentially some angst (but I promise a happy ending!) Also it has a slight supernatural element, but it hardly dominates the story.

Anyway, here's the prologue. It doesn't necessarily reflect the style of writing I'll be using for the rest of the story (it may, but I doubt it).

Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek

* * *

George Venturi is a lawyer, but you'd never know it unless somebody told you. He looks and acts like your Average Joe living down the street. He is a man who is of unsophisticated tastes. He's just as happy eating at a fast food joint as he is at a 5-star restaurant. To nobody's surprise, he had a deer-in-the-headlights look about him when he walked into the jewelry store, shopping for an engagement ring for his girlfriend: Nora McDonald. Unlike last time, in which his sister (who now lives in the States) helped him pick out a ring, he is completely on his own.

Luckily for George Venturi, the woman on duty has seen many like him before. She was an older woman, definitely old enough to be George's mother. She had white hair, glasses, and had that sweet look about her that you get from your grandmother. The moment she saw him come up to her, she immediately knew what his agenda was because of his uneasiness and the love that he had written on his face. She knew exactly what he needed.

"Hi are you here for an engagement ring?" she asks even before he had a chance to say anything.

"Is it that obvious?" he asks a bit confused and a little scared.

"For me at least. I've been selling engagement rings to men for years now. You build up a certain intuition, I suppose", she answers.

"I see", he says feigning understanding.

"What's your name sir?" she asks.

"George Venturi", he answers.

"So who's the lucky woman?" she asks.

"Nora McDonald", he answers proudly. She simply smiles at George's response.

"So what is your price range?" she inquires.

He tells her, and then she goes into the back room. She comes back a couple minutes later with a small box, obviously containing a ring.

"Don't you need her ring size or something?" he asks.

"Nope, this is a special ring", she says.

"Like a one-size fits all?" he asks, very much confused.

"Not exactly", she answers.

She then opens it up and reveals a magnificent diamond ring. George just gaped at in awe, completely disbelieving that it could possibly be in his price range. Maybe this woman just picked the most expensive and is now going to persuade him to buy it. Maybe this woman is just a scam artist in the body of a sweet old lady.

"This ring was produced by a small company in Eastern Asia. The company owns a small mine, which is believed to rest on sacred land. The diamonds extracted are believed to have a mystical quality to them", she says.

"What kind of mystical quality?" asks George.

"The ring has an incredible…ability I guess you can say to recognize true love. It will automatically fit any woman's finger under two conditions. The man and woman have to be truly in love and the man must engrave a brief message describing their love. If one of the conditions aren't met, then the ring will not fit the woman's finger", she says.

"Ok, assuming what you're saying is true, how is this in my price range?" he asks.

"Because I receive these rings for very little money. The company who makes them is very disinterested in economics of the business. They just make enough money to keep their operation running. They are much more interested in the spiritual aspect of their business and product", she answers.

"I see", answers George, still in a bit of disbelief.

"Ok sir do you want to buy the ring? We have a 30-day return policy, in which you can either return the ring or exchange it if it doesn't fit her finger. However, if it's the latter, I'm not sure if you would want another", she says.

"Ok", says George. He figured it was the nicest ring he could possibly nicest ring he could afford and he could exchange the ring if the whole ring automatically fitting Nora's finger was total B.S.

"Great! Now the last thing before I ring you up is the engravement", she says. "Remember it has to describe your love, but don't make it too long. There isn't that much space; it is a ring after all. About 60 characters is usually the max".

"Uh, I never really thought about it", he says, a bit dumbfounded.

"I have a suggestion, how about: Venturi + McDonald = True Love. It's simple but gets the message across", she says.

"Ok", says George.

She then took the ring and went to the back room. George assumed that she was just going to do the engravement. A few minutes later, she returned with the ring. She rang him up and paid for the ring.

"A quick question if you don't mind, do you sell these rings to every guy looking for an engagement ring?" he asks.

"Of course not. These rings are special and I'm not going to sell them to just anyone. I only offer these rings if I believe they will have a long use and if the man seems to bee truly in love. That's where my intuition comes back into play. Luckily for you sir I sensed both when you walked in", she answers.

"Ok thank you", he says as he turns around, ring in hand, to leave the store.

He couldn't help, but strut as he made his way to the car. He just knew in his heart, that he just bought the perfect ring.

* * *

Ok so that's the prologue. I'm not crazy about it, but it definitely accomplishes everything I wanted to. You can probably get a little sense of what may happen, but my intention was not to give much away.

Please review even if you are anonymous.


	2. Proposals, Wedding Dresses, and Dancing

Hey everyone sorry for the wait. I was away for a week on Spring Break, but I'm back! Thanks for all the positive feedback so far.

This chapter actually wasn't apart of my original plan, but I wanted a light-hearted chapter before I get into the parts that'll make you guys hate me :p.

Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek

* * *

To say the McDonald-Venturi family was unconventional would be like saying that Derek and Casey have had some disagreements. For one, there were _actually two proposals: one by George and one by Casey. Neither one was particularly normal._

_

* * *

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_Nora and George were at the fanciest restaurant that George could afford at the time. The night was going really well so far, and George just knew it was the perfect night to propose. He decided to use the classic ring in the champagne trick. However, things didn't go quite as planned._

_George and Nora were in the middle of discussing how they were going to finally get Casey and Derek to meet each other. Both of them were concerned about their eldest child because of the high probability of World War III breaking out. Suddenly, there was a loud scream coming from the table next to them. They looked over and saw a young woman, probably 25 at most, nearly hyperventilating. She was using one hand to fan herself and the other was holding a ring…George's ring. George may not always be the quickest man in the world, but he knew immediately it was his. The stupid waiter sent the champagne to the wrong table!_

_As George stood up to retrieve the ring, he couldn't help but laugh at the woman's attempt to put the ring on. She kept trying to push the ring onto her finger, with absolutely no success. _

_"Oh my God, Kurt, you forgot my ring size!" she yelled._

_The man with her just had a deer-in-the-headlights look about him. He had no clue what was going on._

_"Actually Ma'am, that's actually my ring. The waiter sent it to the wrong table. If you look at the inscription, you'll see my last name in it", said George._

_The woman then took a quick glance at it and then promptly gave it to George. She had a rather disappointed look on her face, while the man looked absolutely relieved._

_George then went back over to Nora and decided to use the more conventional, one-knee proposal._

_"Nora…I'm not very good with romantic stuff so I'll keep this as simple as possible. Will you marry me?" asked George._

_"Yes George!" Nora exclaims. She slips on the ring and it fits her perfectly._

_"That's weird, it almost felt like the ring…expanded to fit my finger. I must be imaging things though", says Nora._

* * *

A couple weeks later, Derek and Casey finally met. To make a long story short, they immediately got off on the wrong foot. The fact that neither wanted their parent to get married didn't help matters, but they also had clashing personalities. In fact, it got so bad at one point that Nora decided to call off the wedding. However, Casey first bit the bullet and proposed to George on her mother's behalf. Then Derek accepted the proposal on his Dad's behalf. Ironically, it was the two people who desperately wanted to do anything to prevent the family from merging that ended up saving it (after nearly destroying it of course).

The wedding was another interesting experience. To say that it was all a normal and smooth occasion would be a blatant lie. It's possible that even Derek Venturi, the king of lies, could pull off that sale.

The chaos actually started the night before, as the soon to be merged family went to Nora's house. While everyone was trying to break up Derek and Casey's third fight of the night, Marti made her way upstairs and into Nora's bedroom. She went into the closet and saw Nora's wedding dress.

"What kind of dress is this? No purple!" exclaimed Marti.

Marti then remembered that Lizzie had paint after she helped her soon to be stepsister with a project once. After quickly finding the paint, she then proceeded to paint various people on the dress. She was at it for a good 10-15 minutes before George came upstairs looking for her.

"Marti where are…Marti what did you do?" George asked after seeing the newly painted dress.

"I painted our new family!" Marti exclaimed happily.

"George did you find…oh my God!" exclaimed Nora after seeing the dress. "Marti, why did you paint my dress?"

"Because it was all white. A dress for such a happy day needs purple. I painted our family. See here's me…the kitty cat", says Marti.

"Is that me and George holding hands?" asked Nora who was still in shock, but trying her best not to scare Marti.

"No that's Casey and Smerek", said Marti. "You two are over here. Do you like it?"

"Marti you know you really shouldn't…" started George.

"I love it Marti", said Nora enthusiastically.

"Seriously Nora?" asked George who was very much confused.

"Sure why not! I mean sure it's a little unconventional, but it seems like everything is lately. Why break up the pattern now? Unconventional has gotten us this far", said Nora.

Marti then happily skipped off downstairs.

"If you're sure dear", said George with uncertainty.

"I am George. Besides, you try telling that little girl that you didn't like it", said Nora.

"I honesty couldn't. But what about the whole sneaking into your closet?" asked George.

"Oh I'll just get her Smerek to address that", said Nora.

"Good luck. I haven't been able to get Derek to do anything willingly without bribing him for years now", said George.

"Oh, I think I have something that'll persuade him", said Nora.

* * *

The wedding ceremony went surprisingly smooth. There were some comments and jeers over the painted wedding dress, but since Derek and Casey didn't fight once the whole time, you can consider it an overwhelming success.

After the ceremony, it was time for food and dancing. Surprisingly, Edwin and Derek didn't start a food fight (like they did at their uncles wedding a couple years back). However, the real surprise came when it was time to dance.

Casey soon realized that Derek was the only person close to her age (Edwin and Lizzie where the next closest). As much as she didn't want to, she couldn't resist going over to him.

"Derek want to dance", said Casey.

"I don't think so Princess", said Derek.

"I wasn't asking", said Casey as she pulled Derek onto the dance floor.

"Ugh!" complained Derek, even though he didn't really resist.

The next thing they knew, they were slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor. They both got a brief confused look from their newly married parents. However, Nora and George just left them alone fearing a fight if they made a big deal about it.

"So…I guess you McDonalds will be moving in with us tomorrow", said Derek followed by a weak chuckle.

"Yeah…and I guess we'll go back to our normal fighting ways" said Casey.

"Yeah…you're right", said Derek.

"Wow, I've never seen my mom this happy…maybe ever", said Casey.

"Yeah, I can't believe she didn't freak out about the dress. You would have", said Derek.

Casey responded by just sticking her tongue out a Derek.

"Hey is that your grandma because I know she isn't in my family?" asked Derek as he casually pointed towards an older woman who was sitting on the side, contently watching everyone else.

"No, I've never seen her before. Are you sure she isn't your family?" asked Casey.

"Yeah I'm sure. I know all my aunts, uncles, cousins and all. I just pretend I don't know them. A lot of them are more embarrassing than you are and that's saying something", he answered.

"I'm sure she isn't in my family either", said Casey.

"Than who is she?" muttered Derek.

* * *

Ok as I said earlier, this is just a light-hearted chapter before I start going into the core of the story. This is lot fluffier than the following chapters will be.

As always please review even if you are anonymous.


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